The LA Times ran an editorial today that cuts to the heart of one of our issues that have Americans on edge; we sit in fascination as inflation has skyrocketed, and everything we buy has gone up in price, and it’s a strange world when a gallon of milk is sometimes more expensive than a gallon of gas.

In this economy, failure is an option

By Peter G. Gosselin, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer July 20, 2008

WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy appears to be caught in a cycle of recurrent panic attacks. So many things have gone wrong, and so much anxiety has accumulated in the financial system, that nothing seems safe.

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As a result, no sooner has one crisis seemed to recede than another has popped up, to be followed by another and still another.

* Nations with vast oil wealth gaining clout

*It costs what?! Calculating the CPI requires a lot of shopping around

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*Americans may be losing faith in free markets

“We’ve gotten to that classic point in a financial crisis where it’s gone on for long enough we know there are losses. We just don’t know where they are,” said Joseph R. Mason, a financial economist at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. MUCH MORE

I am not attempting to create a panic when I write about this subject. People, by not being careful, can cause a “run” on a bank, where all of the depositor’s demand their money, and that action by itself can cause a bank to fail. Such measures are unnecessary for the time being, and I believe people can invest their money (if the have any extra) and make sound financial decisions by being apprised of the facts. The truth is many different answers, but it must be delivered with cautionary notes that people, through their own panic, could cause a financial institution to fail. That would be counterproductive at this time, and several banks are doing well, have raised all of their fees, and are having a “field day” with the American consumer. For the most part, your money in banks is fairly safe, and remember that only $100,000 is guaranteed by the FDIC, therefore, if you have that much in one bank, you might consider spreading the wealth and deposit in multiple banks to ensure that if a mass failures occur, you’re deposits are covered by federal insurance.

Further down in the Editorial, this sober statement was made, and it spells hard times for Americans across the board as we attempt to patch-up and repair an ailing economy:

“This thing simply hasn’t run its course,” said veteran banking consultant Bert Ely of Alexandria, Va. “We have a multiple-chapter housing saga that could go on well into the next decade.”

If this “housing saga” goes well into the the upcoming decade, Americans are in for rough times that may border on something akin to the Great Depression. Our federal policies as they regard our food supply and appropriate storage are severely lacking, they know it, but aren’t making a move to fix the problem. This could be manufactured, planned in the event of a national problem where martial law is declared and the government attempts to use food as a weapon. Bloggers and people across the nation have written in to Congress and the White House expressing their alarm at our current food situation. The floods that decimated much of the corn crop was predictable, and we know that global warming has raised hell with our food production - and it will continue to do so in increased frequency and severity.

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Read the article “It’s a Class War, Stupid: Election season will be packed with distractions, but the real issue is a matter of life and death“. This piece was written by Matt Taibb, and it discuses an instance where Bernie Sanders sent out letters to his constituency to get their input on how the economy was impacting them on a personal level. Mr. Sanders admits that he didn’t expect a lot of feedback, but was surprised by the volume of mail and some of the stories rip at your heart and we have to ask ourselves, “what happened to America?” There is one story where a mother burned her dining room furniture, among other items. to provide heat for her family in the winter months. How can we look at ourselves in the mirror while this plunder of the average American is wrecking havoc across our entire country and our response is to tighten our belts and hope it gets better.

Bad news folks. It isn’t going to bet better, it’s going to become substantially worse, and our government knows it. This notion of sending billions of dollars in aid to other country while Americans are hungry is absurd. It can go on for a while longer, but eventually even those funds will have to be cut. We need to get on our own feet, protect American interests, and bring ourselves back to the position that we can help others without starving ourselves. We need to be a caring nation, but somehow, the “caring” for other nations superseded the needs of the average American, and we are quickly becoming “who” it is we are sending aid to, and the rapid decent into poverty is causing millions of American families to lose items they have worked year to accumulate, all to wind up in a pawn shops or sold in a paper to help and pay bills that seem to be growing larger on a daily basis.

We can see what’s happening, however, the burning question is, “what do we do about it?”. Anyone can write about he constant woes we face, but the time to discuss the problem is voided by the necessity to take the appropriate action that will help to stabilize an economy that only stays afloat from massive foreign loans, and if we default, they will be coming for their equity.

My Bio is as varied as my life. Approx. 4 years ago my twin sons murdered a Journalist in Pensacola, Fl., for 100K worth of "Magic The Gathering" playing cards and buried the body in my backyard. I was once a regular writer here, but PTSD from (more...)